Should there be an asterisk attached when
Tim Tebow breaks Herschel Walker's SEC record for rushing touchdowns?
They each have 49, and Tebow could break the record, fittingly, this Saturday against Georgia.
Bill King, who blogs on the Bulldogs for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
isn't ready to concede the record to Tebow just yet, and here's why: Walker scored five more rushing touchdowns in three Sugar Bowl games from 1981-83 that he didn't get credit for.
At the time (and I've never understood why), but bowl statistics didn't count. The first year that bowl statistics were counted by the NCAA was 2002.
Also, Walker played in just 36 total games (33 not counting the bowls). He left Georgia following his junior season, and teams didn't play as many games in those days. Tebow has already played in 48 games, although he wasn't a starter until his sophomore season.
These arguments are a lot like the ones you hear concerning baseball records. Roger Maris played in more games than Babe Ruth the year he hit 61 home runs and broke Ruth's record. There was a time when baseball actually had two different home run records depending on the number of games played in a season. But not anymore.
It's always difficult to compare players from different eras. The bottom line is that Walker and Tebow are both two of the best players to ever play in the SEC.
I agree that Walker deserves those five touchdowns he scored in bowl games. But the fact that he left school early to go to the USFL and didn't play his senior season should have no bearing on the record. That was Walker's decision.
